Deleted Content: The Fantastic Four in Marvel Vs Capcom 3!

The Marvel Universe usually divides into four categories.  The Fantastic Four (above), the X-men (Wolverine, Storm, Rogue, Cyclops, Jean Gray/Phoenix, etc.)  The Avengers (Thor, Iron Man, Captain Marvel, and Black Widow. Etc.) and the unaffiliated.  (Punisher, Daredevil, etc.) 

So, if Fantastic Four is one of Marvel's prime teams, why did the Super Skrull get in over them?

Now, while the Skrull (and Doctor Doom) are Fantastic Four villains, look at how Super Skrull works.  He uses the abilities of all four of the members.

You see, back when they were setting it up, they fully intended to put all the Fantastic Four in there.  However, they ran into problems.  The Thing played too similarly to the Hulk to justify putting him in.  I believe Reed Richards had some gameplay problems and Susan Storm was hard to figure out a moveset.  Johnny Storm was fully made and modeled.... and promptly took up way too much space and processing power on the gamedisk.

So, the team decided to just make the Super Skrull to add variety and fix the gameplay problems. In addition, this freed up 3 other spots to be used on other characters. 

(As a side note, Silver Surfer was almost included but Capcom couldn't figure out how to include Silver Surfer's surfboard in his gameplay.  As that is kind of a key part of him, and he couldn't be sufficiently differentiated otherwise, he was cut.)

Deleted Content: Dissidia (Playable Cosmos and Aerith)

So, as time goes by for Final Fantasy's first real fighting game, people start looking into the code.  And, when you look into the code, you can find some interesting things.

Like Cosmos was going to be playable.

While there is no playable model, or even text, three in game portraits are assigned to her.  If they are ever summoned, they appear as darkened Zidane portraits, but the coding indicates the are actually Cosmos'.

And in the second game, Aerith has slightly more coding than you would expect.  She has outfit and weapon data and you can hack her to appear in quick battle, but the game will crash once the battle loads.   Admittedly, this may be necessary for her to be an assist, but it is interesting...


Who would you like to have seen in Dissidia? 

((I would like to have seen Final Fantasy VI's Cyan.))

Deleted Content: Aerith (Final Fantasy 7) (Spoilers)

So, Aerith Dies.  We know that. 

However, Aerith has unique text and animations post death (for example, after the snowboarding ride), and then there's the Sephiroth glove/Aerith's postion controversy...

Long story short, for such a critical scene, it was sloppily animated.

Which is why some people think, it was actually later.

See, there is this background scene in the game's code.

If you access it with a cheating device, there are no character models, no pathways to walk on, no dialogue but there IS Aerith's theme, which plays at her death.  (With that being said, a small part of it is used briefly by the game during the Northern Cave sequence, and the Northern Cave sequence uses a similar background)

So, using the deleted dialogue, the death sloppiness, and the scene, some people think her death was actually supposed to happen early in Disk 2 rather than disk one.

It would also explain why Sephiroth kills her by jumping down.  If you think about it, there are other ways for him to kill her, this doesn't make as much sense.

However, in this scene, Sephiroth is sleeping/dead in the Materia in the tree root on top of the image.  (this is in the official scene too)

((Also, not sure why this is different from the final image, but I didn't pay that much attention to the background)) 

Sephiroth wakes up after Cloud gives him the materia

and then Cloud and Tifa fall into the Lifestream. 

But, if Aerith's death WAS supposed to happen in disk 2 (as her unique dialogue hints)  then when Sephiroth woke up, he would have jumped down to kill her.  It might fix the gloves/no gloves controversy and would give an explanation for why he chose that method to kill her instead of something a bit more normal... like stabbing her in the chest. 

As it stands, this is all mostly speculation, yes talked about in the FF7citadel, but it is something to think about.

Deleted Content: Golden Eye

Golden Eye on the N64 is considered the father of modern shooters and one of the best games of all time.  I have not played it.  What I HAVE found out is a lot of items were cut before the release. 


For starters, and the most well known, is the "All Bond" mode.  Licensing kept this from being easily accessible in the final game.  (Basically, either not all the Bonds said "okay"  or Rare could not pay enough for them to say okay.)

But there are others.

Xenia Onnatopp may have been in the final game.  She's known to fly a helicopter, and helicopters either appear or were going to appear in several of the levels.  There is a model of a female helicopter pilot in game, and you meet her by a suspiciously large and empty room..,. a boss fight room perhaps?


Snipers were also supposed to be in the final game.  That's why there are empty sniper towers in several of the levels.... however the way sightlines and bullets work in the game, they could only shoot at Bond when he's at the bottom of the ladder.  Therefore, they would be almost entirely ineffective.


Digging into the code reveals items for a casino level.  There are gold bars, poker chips, and other items which show that one was planned (and there is one in the movie) But it was cut for unknown reasons.

And, the one many have suspected for years, the island!

Near the end of the Dam level, you can glimpse an island in the distance.  Yes, you were actually going to go to it originally.  There is a spare bonus armor on the island, and there is a dummied out but fully modeled boat too.  However, the island itself is unfinished. But the fact it is modeled hints that there was supposed to be something rather significant here.


If you keep on digging, you can find a lot more.  Hidden doors, secret items, unused characters...  interesting what is kept on that little cartridge, isn't it? 

Deleted Content: Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Digging into the code and connecting some dots has revealed a few things about Ocarina of Time.

Such as, there may have been 3 more dungeons.

Looking into the code of Legend of Zelda, the forest medallion and the water medallion are listed as "Wind Medallion" and "Ice Medallion" respectively.  In addition, the ice in the Zora's domain was never properly cleaned up, there is an odd ice mini dungeon in the game, and the respective mini dungeons in Ganon's Castle are wind and ice themed.

Okay, that's two dungeons.  What's the third?

The third is a light temple.  You see, the Spirit Temple has light based puzzles, but the light symbol, light arrows, windows, and the "Prelude of Light" all link back to the Temple of Time.

Connecting the dots, it appears that a "Temple of Light" Did indeed get partially programmed and themed but for some reason was scrapped.  As a result, and to gain the light arrows, the assets were split between the spirit temple (to provide extra puzzles and the mirror shield in addition to the gloves)  and the Temple of Time (To meet Zelda on an important ground and to gain the Light Arrows.)


The dungeons were not re added in Ocarina of Time: 3D.  But, how do you think the game would have gone if the dungeons/temples were kept in the game?

Deleted Content: Professor Layton Vs Ace Attorney (Spoiler Free)

Professor Layton vs Ace Attorney was released a few months ago in Japan.  As per the norm, an art book was released which revealed that early in development, Phoenix and Layton were to have an evil counterpart.  This was apparently scrapped,

It's interesting to think about their evil counterparts.  What would they be like?  How would they be adapted into the story?

Phoenix already a bit of an evil counterpart in "Furio Tigre" and Layton had one on "Don Paolo" but neither of these were quite a counterpart.  Don Paolo was shown to have some good in him several times while Furio Tigre was more intimidating then a portent of what Phoenix could be.

The idea of an evil counterpart, especially one towards Professor Layton, is rather interesting.  Phoenix has very few faults (to the point he is noted in a few supplementary materials as bland) and Level-5 stated that Layton is just like Phoenix, but with no faults. 

Admittedly, it may be why the designs were scrapped, but it's interesting to think what they could be. Would Evil Layton be a jerk obsessed with coffee? (Though that does sound a lot like Godot) Would Evil Phoenix be motivated for himself rather than his client? Or would he be a prosecutor? 

Shadow archetypes are always a tricky game to play.  Silent Hill tends to play it pretty well, you often have to face your Shadows to move on in the game.  Other times, they tend to fall flat.  I can't name any off the top of my head, but everyone has dealt with a fictional work with their own take on Shadow Archetypes.


So, sadly, these sketches are what can not be.  Which really is a pity, they look gorgeous.  As are the attempts at Miles and Larry, Labyrinth City style, below.

Deleted Content- Mewtwo (Super Smash Brother Brawl)

I've stated before Mewtwo is my favorite character.  Mewtwo was also in Super Smash Brother Melee.  Since I have never played Melee, I usually main Lucario in Brawl despite being better at Samus.

But Mewtwo was almost in Brawl.

After the game was released, hackers started going through the code.  In it they found a few very interesting things.  Mewtwo had some sound files and a winning screen.  Well, that wouldn't be unusual, they could have imported it for some reason during development.


But Mewtwo also had a Final Smash yell.  Proof that he had actually had some programming done before he was cut from the playlist.

(The model appears to be a reskinned Lucario, ignore that.  The second voice clip is from Mewtwo) 

He doesn't have a model (that I can find. The Smash wiki states he does have a working model but I can't find a video of it) , so the trophy model is from another game (I can't find the title at the moment, but it was something like Pokemon Colosseum) but it is interesting to see how much they actually got done.

Maybe he can come back in a future release... if his stats got tweaked.  From what I understand, he didn't live up to his legendary status at all.

Deleted content- Gotham by Gaslight

Well, more like deleted game.  Very little is known about this game - which was revealed through concept art on Julie Farrell's blog- but was is known is interesting.
The game was created by Day One studios and would have been a game adaptation of a "Elseworlds" comic that consisted of Batman in a Steampunk Gotham. According to Wikipedia, the basic story (of the comic) involves Bruce Wayne being accused of the crimes of Jack the Ripper.  Bruce Wayne must escape jail, clear his name, and track down the real culprit.

The game was, obviously, cancelled. So far the buzz for the cancelled game has been positive.  It is really curious to see what would have happened if it was allowed to continue. 

Deleted Content: Mother 64

The "Mother" series debuted in Japan in 1989.  The first game never made it to the US.  It was going to, but by the time it debuted, the NES would be pretty much dead.  While we know there is at least one beta cart floating around on e-bay (or there was at least, and it was confirmed to be legitmate)  the game was never published.

But Mother 2 (known as EarthBound) was released in Japan in August 1994, and the US in July 1995.  The game did FANTASTIC in Japan and is still very much liked. In the US it was marketed everywhere as "This Game Stinks" (and ignoring basically everything that has made the game so popular, like Ness, the amazing translation/localization, the weapons, etc), came out near the end of the SNES and...well...  the only acknowledgement Mother fans get in the US is through Super Smash Brothers and music on iTunes.

Mother 3 was originally known as Mother/Earthbound 64.  It was to be released on the Nintendo 64DD, but when the system was canned Mother 3 was transferred over to the GBA. Much like Mother 1, it came out at the end of the GBA cycle and with EarthBound's lackluster sales, Nintendo decided against bringing Mother 3 to the US.

This trailer and a few magazine scans are all that exist of Mother 64 now.  While people have managed to link Mother 64/3 scenes together there is enough differences (especially with Lucas and Claus) to wonder what could have been.

Deleted Content - Sly 2

It is prfoundly frustrating when you KNOW you have seen video of deleted content, but you can not find it.

Anyway, Sly 2 had deleted content.  For a while, there was to be a level that took place in Monaco.  At one point Bentley would have rammed a dock with a ship.

From what I remember, everything (except the PC character model and a few guards) was in the "Grayscale" stage. (It was just the basic buildings, nothing was colored or textured)   The area was very open and was not textured.  There were guards from interpol around.  There was some sort of director commentary over the stage too.  I think one of the guards was a cat of some sort.  There was a guardhouse on the docks. 

I really wish I could show it too you.  I wonder what would have happened in that level and why it was cut.  Any ideas?

Deleted Content - Portal 2

"A man with a briefcase was just here to see you!"

(Spoilers for Half Life and Portal below)

Portal 2 and Half Life exist in the same universe.  Black Mesa and Aperture were constantly competing for government resources but had two different philosophies on products.  Aperture tried to make the best products ever by constantly testing them but rarely sold them while Black Mesa sold products that people weren't completely sure about.  Both companies ended up being death traps.  Black Mesa triggered an invasion of earth while Aperture managed to load people's consciousness onto computers which then go crazy and kill all the scientists on "Take Your Daughter To Work Day".   

Despite that, the two games haven't had much crossover.  In Half Life 2 you find plans for the "Borealis" ship that were signed by GLaDOS, while in Portal Aperture and Black Mesa are competing for grants, and in Portal 2 you can find the Borealis (Well, it's dock)  and some more competition between the companies.

There was going to be more.  

In the early cuts of "Portal 2" Wheatley was apparently supposed to mention a man in a briefcase had dropped by to see Chell.  Anyone who's played Half Life could make the connection, The G-man was interested in Chell.

It was cut so it's now non canon, but it's interesting to speculate.

What role would Chell have played in the larger Half Life universe?  She left Aperture without her gun (and she can't really portal onto many surfaces outside of Aperture) so how could she have helped?  The G-man has been known to take an interest in people his "Superiors" don't like, could she have been one of them?  Considering how both she and Gordon are mutes (Though Chell is mute by choice.  She doesn't want to give GLaDOS and the other robots the satisfaction of a reply)  would one break and talk or would they both be kept silent? Would we switch between the two characters?  Are robots immune to the G-man's "Somebody Else's Problem" glamor? 

So many questions, but something to think about.  What do you think the G-man would have done in Portal 2?

 

Laguna Loire in the modern era

AKA deleted content: Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep part 2.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep and Dissidia Duodecim would both come out at about the same time.  And Square Enix decided that they would need to make a decision. 

Which game would star Laguna Loire?

Eventually, they decided to go with Dissidia and Laguna was cut some time before Birth By Sleeps release (As of this writing, no data has been found in the game that deals with Laguna.  However, this tidbit was revealed in the Birth By Sleep Ultimania)

That being said, from what was in Dissidia (I have yet to play FF8) Laguna would make a nice eventual addition.  A.V. Kennedy does a nice job voicing him (which is great, as far as I can tell, this is his first time doing anything besides background voices and he gets a big character in a big Square Enix release. GO A.V. KENNEDY!)  (cough)   and the character is fantastic.  Laguna is kind, funny, absentminded, interested in people, likes girls (but not in a pervy way), a perfect gentleman, and can MORE then keep up with the rest of Cosmos and Chaos' warriors despite having absolutely no magic.

In fact, he's the only Cosmos warrior who doesn't have at least one magic spell.  Tidus has a magic HP attack, Tifa has Ice, Cloud has Fire, Jecht has laser beams from his eyes (and transforms into SIN), and... all Laguna gets is his weapons turning gold which is really just Leon and Company lending their strength. 

With Dream Drop Distance coming up, and at least considered worlds confirmed to be in the roster, maybe we can see some considered heroes?

After all, he was more then considered for Birth By Sleep, he had his own plot line.  He was to run the Mirage Arena.  We don't know anything other then that, but judging from Dissidia (And FF8, which I can't comment on) it would have been interesting. Especially considering what he could have happened if he interacted with Aqua. 

As for future released, we don't know.  But I would LOVE to have him show up again. 

Deleted Content - Kingdom Hearts part 1

Hey? Isn't this Kingdom Hearts, the Disney/Square Enix mashup? I've never seen THIS world before.... What is it?

It's the Jungle Book. And, yes, those are fully functional models of Terra, Ven, and Aqua. As you can see, Jungle Book was fairly late in development when it got scrapped. Why?

Well, we don't know. But I do have a guess.

Did you ever watch Talespin?


By the time Talespin was created, Louie Prima (note, I originally put in Louie Armstrong, but it appears I was wrong. My apologies)(King Louie's Original Voice Actor) had died. So, Disney hired a very good voice actor named Jim Cummings (He's also Pooh, Tigger, Ray, Don Karnage, Darkwing Duck, NegaDuck...) Jim Cummings has a skill in imitation so he imitated Louie Prima's performance.

Apparently he did it too well and Disney was sued by Louie Prima's widow for breech of contract. Since then, King Louie either does not speak or his cousin "Larry" shows up instead.

Now, look at the only perfectly complete room in the video. Apparently Terra was to interact with... King Louie.

My idea is that they started to program this world (and got very far!) by the time the legal issues with King Louie were made known. They were too far along with the project so they dummied out the world instead of reworking it. All hope is not lost though! Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance is confirmed to consist of worlds that were highly considered for the other games. With the world partly built, we can assume that DDD is considering Jungle Book as well.